Nike- Managerial Case Study

Nike is one of the most well established companies who sponsor famous athletes that impact their buyers in a more inspirational and positive way. Although Nike has been keeping their illegal sweatshops in hiding and not revealing the truth to its consumers. Nike could solve these problems of their illegal sweatshops and fix their business image and still be one of the biggest companies.

The factors that drive Nike’s decision to stick with its current organizational structure include its well-established brand name in the industry. The company positioned itself as a brand

Today Nike Inc is the largest manufacturer of sports footwear, apparel and equipment with worldwide revenue in excess of $25 billion in 2012 under various labels including Nike, Nike Golf, Converse and Hurley. Seventy percent of the company’s value is derived from footwear and apparel sold under the main brand Nike with Nike footwear commanding a market share

Nike has totally changed the sports footwear and sportswear market. Nike's huge selection of merchandise consists of specialized workout equipment, footwear, clothing, accessories and sports components. Nike is among the world's biggest brands and a leader in the sportswear industry because of their advertising, innovative products and sponsorship of top teams and

Nike was introduced in 1971, as a small organization which has grown into a multi-billion organization, as one of the top sellers of sports apparel as well as having endorsements.

Nike has revolutionized the way sportswear is sold and worn in today’s economy. They have found a way to sell gear that is made for athletics but is used in the everyday life of many generations. Nike has changed the social culture of many people. This is done through various methods of endorsements. Nike has perfected the art of advertising by finding the right formula of different ad styles.

Their research and development division spreads across every other division in the entire company. Their global expansion adds to their inspiration and creativity and they are showing no signs of slowing down. Nike has become a global household brand and they have dominated their market. Famous athletes and designers strive to work with Nike to create new lines which only helps Nike’s reputation as the best brand for serious athletes. They not only keep track of style trends but also fitness trends as well to keep up with the changing times.

Around the world, people of all cultures are increasing their participation in fitness activities. All are motivated by the common desire for athletic and personal excellence. Nike, a simple sneaker company to many newspaper readers is transforming into an international consumer products company. The payoff from overcoming all these challenges can be seen in our 1991 international growth of 80 percent to $862 million in revenues. Nike is the famous franchises in the world that sells sportwear for all ages.nike is also one of the major manufacturers of sport equipment but it is the most famous for their athletic shoes and apparel.

Nike invested in their brand by getting sports heroes to advertise for their brand such as Michael Jordon, Tiger Woods and the Brazilian football team. This further fuel the products appeal towards the consumers.

Nike was founded under the name Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964. In 1972 the first pair of sports shoes was sold and experienced enormous growth and achieved a 50% market share within the sports shoe market in the US only eight years later.

Nike‘s vertical structure includes CEO Mark Parker and a board of directors chaired by co-founder Phil Knight. Although Nike has functional divisions and divisions based on specific products it is not a matrix organization. In a matrix organization, employees report to a functional and divisional manage. At Nike, employees report to the divisional manager and the president of each division reports directly to the CEO. Nike’s continued product innovation and successful marketing are due to the combination of functional and divisional organization using an operations department to insure communication between divisions. There is division of labor but it is not clearly identified. With a more pronounced division of labor and levels of direct supervision Nike can improve its

Competition is very fierce due to the number of companies competing for sales. Lots of money goes to marketing and promotions using various channels to reach the young demographic group of consumers who spend the most money on Nike’s products. Growth is slowing down in the athletic footwear industry. But new markets are emerging with high growth rates. These markets include extreme sports market and the corporate merchandise market.

Nike, Inc. has been the world’s leading innovator and provider in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for 50 years. Their mission has been to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world; if you have a body, you are an athlete. Arguably one of the most innovative companies in the world, Nike has built its brand into an iconic world-class powerhouse that continues to dominate the market with no signs of slowing up. Nike’s marketing and advertising have been breakthrough, aspirational, and legendary over the years, featuring high-profile athletes and heroes.

Nike began as Phil Knight’s semester-long project to develop a small business, which included a marketing plan. This project was part of Phil Knight’s MBA course at Stanford University in the early 1960s. Phil Knight had been a runner at the University of Oregon in the late 1950s. His idea for his project was to develop high quality running shoes. He thought that high quality/low cost products could be produced in Japan and then shipped to the United States to be sold at a profit. His professor thought that Knight’s idea was interesting, but not much more than a project.

Nike’s management understands how important a relevant strategy is in the global environment, as Don Blair, Nike’s CFO, stated “...we are refocusing our efforts, increasing our investments in innovation, using our voice for stronger advocacy and looking at how we incubate new, scalable business models that enable us to thrive in a sustainable economy.”